What would she take him to court for?

[Savannah80]

Hello, looking for insight really as I’m pretty stumped with current situation. In a nutshell, my DP and his ex split 4 years ago. They have one DC. The split is almost 50/50 but not quite, his ex is classed as main parent. The routine is pretty set and has been for a while via solicitors, recently they had to go through mediation because ex was making life difficult - they had an agreed amount of child maintenance (privately arranged) but out of the blue she decided to go through CMS. She ended up getting less money and was not happy, so she made sure we knew about it. Anyway, CMS sorted and mediation over, schedule set in stone, everyone is happy. Or so we thought. A new letter comes saying that ex doesn’t feel issues are resolved with mediation and has requested they go to court. She also threw this in his face the other night at drop off, ‘I can’t wait to take you to court’ etc etc. What I’m asking is, if visitation schedules are set, and CMS is set and agreed to, what would she be taking him to court for exactly? He’s tried to ask her but she refuses to answer. Says things like ‘All communication can go via solicitors/I’m not obligated to talk to you’ etc. I wondered if anyone had a similar experience. Thanks

The court might reject her application if it’s one of ‘I’ve decided I don’t like what I agreed to in mediation’ or if it’s about child maintenance.

It may well be an empty threat from an unhappy woman.

I’d guess she wants to decrease his contact to increase the CMS rate if maintenance she’d get.

Maybe overseas holiday permission? Maybe she wants to move areas?

Let her waste her money.

Let her take him to Court like others have said. Just make sure he puts some annual leave aside for any Court Hearings as they can too often sometimes get cancelled last minute and rescheduled.

Has the Divorce gone through or are they still married?

She might find that whatever she thinks is going to happen backfires and she ends up with a cast iron court order for the existing contact. And CMS rates maintenance.

And legal bills.

We had the same. She took DH to court because she wanted to move back to another country. She refused to engage in any further mediation because she was going to win. She was proposing going from nearly 50/50 to 4 weeks a year (of her choosing). When it came to court she decided she didn’t want to do that anymore as she got back with her ex so she was staying but she wanted a reduction in contact. After months of documents, CAFCASS reports etc the result was one less night per fortnight but exactly half the holidays which made up for the time lost. She was fuming because she always dictated when he could have dc in the holidays. It has helped to have it in many ways - there’s significantly less conflict because it took away some of the power she thought she had. DC also now know where they will be at all times. From what we were advised generally courts like to maintain “the status quo” unless there’s anything that has significantly changed as their focus is on the best interests of the child/ren.

Reduce his contact time and increase CMS

But 50 / 50 is starting point and if that's worked well I can't see how this would be changed

She is throwing her toys at the pram. Don't engage.